In the 1993 Duma elections, the pro-reform party supporting PresidentBoris Yeltsin, Russia's Choice, received only 15% of the vote and the new Communist Party of the Russian Federation only 12.4%. The LDPR emerged as the winner with 22.9% of the popular vote. In effect, the Russian population was divided to those who supported Yeltsin's reforms and to those who did not. It is regarded that the popularity of Zhirinovsky and his party arose from the electorate's dissatisfaction with Yeltsin and their desire for a non-communist solution.[21]

Zhirinovsky is credited with having successfully identified the problems of ordinary Russians and offering simple remedies to solve them. For example, he has suggested that all leaders of organized crime should be shot and all Chechens deported from Russia.[1] Zhirinovsky also called for territorial expansion of Russia. Many of Zhirinovsky's views are highly controversial and the LDPR's success in the early 1990s shocked observers both inside and outside Russia.[20]

The Duma elected in 1993 was as interim solution and its mandate expired in 1995. During the two years, Zhirinovsky's popularity waned and his party's support was halved in the 1995 elections (11.2%). The Communists emerged as the winners, with 22.3% of the vote.[21]

In the presidential elections of 1996, the LDPR has nominated Vladimir Zhirinovsky as a candidate. Zhirinovsky gained 5.7% of the votes in the first round.

In the parliamentary elections of 2011, the party scored 11.7% of the vote and won 56 seats. In the 6th State Duma, Vladimir Zhirinovsky returned to the post of head of the LDPR faction and his son Igor Lebedev has held the position of Vice Chairman of the State Duma.

In the presidential elections 2012, the party again put forward by Zhirinovsky, whose campaign slogan for 2012 was "Vote Zhirinovsky, or things will get worse".[24]Proshka, a donkey owned by Zhirinovsky, became prominent during the presidential campaign when he was filmed in an election advertisement video. On the last episode of debates with Mikhail Prokhorov just before the elections, Zhirinovsky produced a scandal by calling those Russian celebrities which supported Prokhorov, including a pop-diva and a veteran of Russian pop scene Alla Pugacheva, "prostitutes" ("I thought you are an artful person, politician, cunning man, but you are just a clown and a psycho", replied Pugacheva. "I am what I am. And such is my charm", replied Zhirinovsky).[25] As a result, Zhirinovsky gained 6.2% of the votes.

XXVIII Congress of the LDPR in 2016

In the parliamentary elections in 2016, the party improved the result compared to the previous elections. The LDPR surpassed the center-left party A Just Russia, becoming the third largest party in the State Duma and in tight approaching the Communist Party, almost even with her result. The LDPR won 39 seats, gaining 13.1% (for comparison, the Communist Party won 13.3% of votes and 42 seats).

In 2015, Zhirinovsky expressed a desire to participate in the presidential elections in 2018. However, originally and in the past potential candidates from LDPR Zhirinovsky also called his son Igor Lebedev as well as close associates of Mikhail Degtyarev, Yaroslav Nilov and Alexei Didenko.[26] After the parliamentary elections of 2016, Zhirinovsky said he would run himself.[27] According to public opinion polls, Zhirinovsky is the second most popular candidate as over 10% of the electorate would vote for him, which is two times more than the Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, who has always taken second place in the elections.[28]

^anticommunismid=wwgdBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA164&lpg=PA164&dq=ldpr+mixed+economy&source=bl&ots=1QAqqLpGoD&sig=gW3zjyDu2pyBgvpEahBd-MpXNqk&hl=de&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjKjcnJ1u3XAhWGfFAKHRGcDXQQ6AEIKzAA#v=onepage&q=ldpr%20mixed%20economy&f=false Russian Government and Politics.